Woods missed on a lay-up and then battled two defenders for the rebound in order to score the game-winning basket. Woods, a former standout for Lawrence County High School , finished with six points.

"She put the ball back up over a big, strong girl," Bennett said. "Lynn Roller made a great pass to Catie. Lynn saw Catie's defender move out to guard Katie Beth Pate and she put the ball in there. Lynn had great court vision."

The Lady Bisons led by as many as 10 points in the first half, holding a 27-17 advantage with 6:20 on the clock. The Lady Bisons led by seven at intermission, 36-29.

In the first three minutes of the second half the Lady Bisons led 43-31, but Kent State reeled off nine unanswered points to take a 44-43 advantage on a field goal by Lindsay Shearer with 13:20 left in the game.

Lipscomb battled back tying the game at 50-50 at 7:41 on a 3-point shot by Dana Carrigan. Kent State came back to open a four-point edge at 58-54 with 3:05 remaining.

Lipscomb refused to give up. Pate hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 60-59. Woods then hit the second of two free throws to tie the game at 60-60 with 40 seconds on the clock.

A lay-up by Kent State 's Malika Willoughby was blocked by Pate, setting the stage for the game-winning basket.

Carrigan was the only Lady Bisons player to finish in double figures with 15 points, hitting five-of-eight 3-point shots. Courtney Boynton had a game-high six steals for Lipscomb. Pate blocked six shots.

"Courtney has had tremendous stat lines for us," Bennett said. "She had six steals, five assists and three rebounds. She has quick hands and great anticipation.

"It was good to see Katie Beth play more like herself on defense. She made some big plays."

The Lady Bisons, 2-2, continued their streak of outrebounding their opponents, holding a 38-28 edge on the boards.

Shearer finished with 20 points for Kent State . Willoughby added 17 and Melissa Degrate scored 13. Kent State is also 2-2.

"This was a real quality win for us," Bennett said. " Kent State is a very good program. In our last two games we have played against tough defensive pressure, and both games have been close. We have to start cutting our turnovers to 20 instead of 30 if we are going to make things easier for us."

Both games have also been victories. After losing the first two games of the season, the Lady Bisons rebounded Sunday to beat Birmingham-Southern 65-60 on the road.

The Lady Bisons play their first Atlantic Sun Conference games of the season this week with a trip to Florida to face Florida Atlantic on Thursday followed by UCF, the team they beat for the conference tournament championship last season, on Saturday.

"This is always a tough trip," Bennett said. "Both teams have most of their players back from last season which will make it even tougher."